Health Equity

The Centers for Disease Control (CDC) is sounding an alarm that a decrease in childhood vaccinations this spring may lead to multiple public health emergencies. 

A report released last week as part of the Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report noted that on March 13, the president of the United States declared a national emergency. In the weeks following that declaration,the Vaccine Tracking System noted a dramatic decrease in non-influenza and measles-containing vaccines being shipped to providers. The decline was less dramatic in vaccines for children under two-years-old, but there was still an overall decline. The report speculates that stay-at-home orders and fears of COVID-19 infection are prompting parents to delay well-child visits to pediatricians, many of which include vaccinations.

For example, in mid-April, about 1,500 children a week were receiving a measles vaccine. Prior to the public health emergency announcement, that number was about 2,500 per week.

The report notes that as social distancing is relaxed, unvaccinated children are at greater risk to contract diseases like measles. It urges a coordinated campaign between providers and health officials to have children "catch-up" on their vaccine schedule. 

The problem is not limited to the United States. The World Health Organization warned that more than 117 million children worldwide were at risk of missing out in the measles vaccine due to COVID-19. In a statement, the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) President Sally Goza, MD, FAAP, said, "the COVID-19 pandemic is giving all of us a real-time education in what this vulnerability feels like. Fortunately, we have vaccines to protect children and teens against 16 different diseases."